This & That -- Links, etc.

I'm going to try and make "This & That", briefly noting things of interest I've come across on the Net or elsewhere, a semi-regular feature here.

(photo from townhall.com)

Solar Impulse, the completely-solar-powered plane attempting to cross the United States, landed in Phoenix at the end of the first leg of its trip.  This is cool, even if I couldn't help noting to Hilde that a hundred and ten years ago the Wright brothers leading-edge flying machine looked like something that might come apart in a strong wind, and the leading-edge of aviation technology today still looks like something that might come apart in a strong wind.

I stumbled across a book-review/book-commentary blog with a difference: Notes To My Muses, by mystery author Jane Isenberg.  For her 70th birthday several years ago, Jane decided to start a blog of love letters to some of her favorite authors.  Witty, chatty, and perceptive.  Except for Michael Chabon's alternate-history The Yiddish Policemens' Union and one or two others, not much in the sf/fantasy line; most of the works she writes about are literary or mystery works.  (Another Travis McGee fan, yay!)  I loved her opening remark to John Updike: "I first encountered your work in The New Yorker in the early Sixties, but I got married anyway." 


In a less positive light, B&N's Nook Apps is offering a "game" called PUNCH A NERD!  The object is to "Punch-A-Nerd! Have some fun, punch a nerd and see how far he flies! This light hearted game is FREE and is a fun way to pass the time."  As a long-time nerd whose old school days occasionally featured being punched for, well, being a nerd, that doesn't sound like much fun to me.   (And a Google search reveals there are multiple "Punch A Nerd" games available from different developers.  Wait a minute, aren't programmers supposed to be nerds themselves?  Thanks a lot, you traitors!)



From 2011,  Allan Guthrie's Ten Rules To Write Noir.

Texas Library Will Have No Books.  Cue "Illiterate Texans" joke in three, two, one....   The article says the all-electronic library will look something like an Apple Store.  God, I hope not.  The glass-and-steel-cube style of Apple Stores is cold and offputting.  (I used to do security in an upscale office/shopping development that featured an Apple store.  I have stories....)  A traditional library is more than just checking books in and out; I wonder if there'll be actual librarians on site to assist the public with research and questions?